The Gold Watch
by God Amongst Mere Mortals
Summary: A mysterious gift is left behind by Kakashi's father. What could be the significance of the gold watch?


Author: G.A.M.M.

Disclaimer: Don't worry, I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Kakashi sat alone in front of the monument of fallen heroes. A monument his father's name would never occupy. As the fresh grief of his father's death washed over him he took a moment to reflect on all the times they'd had together... and realized they were few.

Kakashi had no memories of his mother. More than that, he had trouble remembering his life any earlier than the age of five. He knew that at the least he should have had _some_ memories of his earlier life, but for the life of him he couldn't remember anything beyond the first night he had awoken in his bedroom, crying out in fear of some unknown terror.

Logically he knew that he had existed before that night, but somehow things just didn't seem to add up, even for his young seven-year-old mind. As stricken as he was with his father's death, he found himself drawn to the question of his own origin. Who was Hatake Kakashi?

Of course he knew _what_ he was. He was a shinobi of the leaf, plain and simple. He had been born to be a ninja, evident since the time he had toddled around the village with a wooden kunai. It seemed he had been destined to continue the proud Hatake line of shinobi. The elders of the village had said the gods watched out for him, ever since the day of the horrible accident. Whenever he asked his father about it he seemed to shiver, as if the memory of it still haunted him. The most he had ever told his young son was that it had been a very near thing. Whenever Kakashi brought up his memory his father insisted that it had been blocked off by the terrible trauma of the accident. That was supposedly why his first memory was of waking up in bed, terrified.

_But if my memory was blocked by the trauma of the accident, why didn't I wake up in the hospital?_ He found himself pondering.

In the end he decided it was of little consequence. He was who he was, and nothing in the universe was going to change that fact.

He was Hatake Kakashi, shinobi of the leaf.

* * *

_Two Years Later..._

Sarutobi Hiruzen had mixed feelings about a boy of nine years of age being promoted to ANBU Captain, but if anyone deserved it, it was Hatake Kakashi. Deprived of a childhood because of the war, deprived of a father because of an ideal, the ideal of the child seemed to be war. This was a terrible thing to consider, but all things considered, Hatake Kakashi would want nothing more than to exceed the expectations that were set upon him. He seemed always destined for greatness. His intellect and acuity seemed to know no bounds, especially considering he was still just a child. His affinity for picking up complicated jutsu was well beyond anything ever seen in the history of the village. It was almost like he was superhuman, but that was the ludicrous thought of an old man. Sarutobi was not yet old.

Struggling to justify his reasons, his attention turned to the gold watch hidden away in his drawer.

_"Make sure you give this to him when the time is right, Sarutobi. He should have it by the time he is an adult."_

Sakumo had never explained why the watch was important. He had never even claimed it was his. All he had said was that it belonged to a friend of his, and that friend wanted Kakashi to have it for whatever reason. So he insisted that Kakashi be given the watch when he had come of age.

Nine was definitely pushing it as far as being an adult was concerned, but this was a time of war, and a shinobi could die at any time. Steeling himself against the atrocities of the times came naturally to Hiruzen by now. Still, he found the duty he was about to perform highly unsettling.

"Send him in." Sarutobi gestured distractedly to his assistant.

The figure that walked in was short, but proud. His hair seemed to make up nearly a fifth of his height. The effect was almost comical, but Hiruzen knew that the demeanor carried behind the mask was anything but. The youth's steely gray eyes spoke of a deadly calm.

"Kakashi, my boy. My, how you've grown."

"You saw me last week, Hokage-sama."

"So I did." Sarutobi grumbled mostly to himself, puffing on his pipe. "So I did."

"I suppose you summoned me for a reason, Hokage-sama?"

Coming from anyone else this might have seemed highly insubordinate, but the Sandaime knew that Kakashi was just being all business.

"As a matter of fact I have. Firstly, some congratulations are in order. You have just been promoted to ANBU Captain. Your regular teammates are to be assigned to a squad under you. You're in charge now, Kakashi. Congratulations."

If Kakashi was at all surprised or flattered, his expression didn't show it. Of course it was hard to read any expression behind that mask of his.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama. It is an honor."

"You can go down to the armory later and requisition a mask. In the meantime, I have something special for you."

For once, Kakashi's interest seemed piqued.

"What is it, Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi reached into the desk and set down an ornate gold fob watch.

"It was given to me by your father. He said he wanted you to have it when you were grown. Times being as they are, I figured I better give it to you now."

He left the part "before it's too late" out. Although it was by no means certain Kakashi would perish in the war, things were not looking good for Konohagakure. Unless by some grace of god that crazy kid Minato could pull off a miracle, the future looked grim indeed.

"What is it?" Kakashi asked suddenly.

"Isn't it obvious? It's a watch." Sarutobi replied off-handedly.

"Then why isn't it ticking?"

The oddity of the question caught Hiruzen off-guard.

"Well... I suppose it needs to be wound-up. Or perhaps it is broken. Never fear, if that's the case I'm sure you can get it repaired. Here."

He picked up the heavy article and handed it to the young boy. Kakashi fiddled with the latch mechanism, a look of consternation showing even through the mask.

"Why won't it open?"

The Third gestured for Kakashi to hand it back so he could try his own hand. He found that despite the apparent good repair of the latch, for some reason, it just wouldn't give.

"Seems to me like it must be spelled with some sort of jutsu. Perhaps something your father might have told you?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Not that I can remember."

"Well, at least you can have it as a keepsake then." He shoved the watch back into the young prodigy's hands. "I know you're not one to be sentimental Kakashi, and that's a sad thing in a boy your age, but keep it for your father's sake. He so much wanted you to have it."

The silver-haired ANBU took the watch and fastened it carefully to one of the straps on his vest, so that it hung right at hip level.

"How does it look?" His tone was so flat that Sarutobi was having difficulty deciphering if Kakashi was attempting to make a joke, or simply didn't care.

"It looks handsome, Kakashi. Although you might want to find a more... practical arrangement. You don't want your father's watch falling off or getting lost in the middle of combat, now do you?"

"No, of course not." Kakashi replied sincerely. "You're right. It is a handsome watch. Thank you, Hokage-sama, for giving me something to remember my father by."

"Not at all, Kakashi. Not at all." Hiruzen made a show of looking at the clock in the corner. "Well would you look at the time?"

"It's 2:30." The young ANBU pointed out. "And you already took a break, Hokage-sama. Perhaps you should see to some of the paperwork that's been piling up on your desk?"

Sarutobi started despondently at the ever growing pile and made a dismissing gesture to the young boy.

"So I should. Get on with you then."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

As he watched the silver-haired youth show himself out, Sarutobi couldn't help but wonder why the White Fang thought that gold watch was so important.

* * *

_10 Years Later..._

Tsunade was on another bender and for some odd reason, the Third had decided to join her.

"It jusht doesn't makesh any shense I tell you! No shense at all!" He slurred badly.

"Wash that?" Tsunade asked, attempting to get the bottle away from the old man.

"Desheashed it shays- desheashed. Body and everyfun! But ish jusht notsh poshible!"

"Wash not poshible, Hokage-shama?"

Sarutobi leaned back in his chair, railing against some unkown force.

"It shez thatsh he died. Back whensh he wash five?" He chuckled in a druken stupor. "Imposhible I tellshya' imposhible... yesh... yesh... imposhible."

In Tsunade's opinion, the only thing impossible was getting the bottle back from the fist of a particular druken old codger.

"I..." Hiruzen stuttered. "I... I... proposhe we havesh a toasht!"

Tsunade frowned, puzzled.

"But I don't wash toasht."

The third guffawed, and handed her a shot glass, producing a pair of short ceramics seemingly out of thin air.

"No... no a _toasht_!"

"Ah I shee!" Tsunade was suddenly cheered at the thought. The Third was gonna start sharing the booze again.

Sarutobi filled both glasses to the nth and smiled, his breath reeking of spirits.

"To the imposhible mansh! May he never be ash old and confushed ash me!"

Tsunade didn't know what an impossible man was, but if it meant more sake, she was all in.

* * *

_10 Years Later..._

The trajectory of the nail Pain had just shot at him meant his death.

Kakashi knew in no uncertain terms that this was the end for him. As time slowed and his death approached, he suddenly found himself wondering about the gold watch. It was still sitting where it always had, in the left front pocket of his flak jacket. After all this time he had still never been able to get it open. Of all the crazy things, at that moment, his one regret, his one irrational thought, was that he had never opened the watch.

As feet turned to inches, time seemed to slow even more. The nail was moving at such an impossibly slow rate... surely he should be able to dodge it? But that was impossible. He was wedged in the rubble, his demise imminent. He had resigned himself to this. So why then, at the last second, was he suddenly so terribly afraid to die?

Something deep within him seemed to snap at that moment. He couldn't die here, there was too much to do, too much to see, too much left to experience in the vast foray that was life.

_Doesn't really sound like me, now does it?_

He thought that was an awfully odd thing to think right at the end of one's life.

The nail was now only centimeters away... if only he could reach the watch.

He heard a snap, and was sure it was the sound of the nail piercing his skull, but oddly enough, he felt no pain. Then, as his fate drew inexorably closer, he suddenly noticed that his pocket had ripped open again. He dimly recalled he had failed to stitch it properly the last time it had given out on him. It seemed like the watch was always trying to get lost, but now it seemed a god-send.

The watch fell forward onto the rubble. As the last second of his life ticked away he could almost hear it as it went.

_Tic-toc goes the clock..._ His mind rambled on at the ridiculous irony of the situation.

Of course _now_ the damned watch decided to start working!

And then he realized something else.

The watch had opened.

At last he felt the nail pierce through his eye... and everything went dark... and then...

* * *

Hinata desperately reached out with the last act of her will, trying in vain to get to Naruto. If only she could remove another rod... maybe she could get him free. As she crawled toward him, her thoughts were so bent on helping him, she didn't spare a moment to think about herself. With Sakura knocked out and Katsuya busy desperately trying to keep the others alive, she knew that the chances of her surviving another attack were slim to none.

She heard Pain talking, but couldn't make out the words. Something about love breeding hate. Then, as at last she reached Naruto's hand, she felt the iron pierce her lung. If she was dead before, she was most certainly dead now.

She watched as Naruto's eyes began to glow an ominous red. Then as a terrible red energy began to surround him, Pain struck out with another volley of rods.

"I don't think so." He said. "You've been enough trouble as it is."

The color seemed to fade from Naruto's eyes as blood began to stream from his mouth. Despite the tears streaming down his cheeks, despite the pain evident in his eyes reflecting from the depths of his soul, somehow Hinata knew that they weren't for himself. They weren't even for the village. Somehow she knew, in that moment, he cried only for her. If only she could get a breath to speak, but the iron rod in her lung prevented her from doing so. If only she could tell him she could now die happy because of him.

Because he cried for her.

"Please." He wheezed. "Take me... but spare Hinata... please."

Pain almost looked sympathetic. "I told you love... breeds sacrifice... which breeds hatred. Now can you see what the love of this girl has wrought? It ends in nothing but pointless death. Soon though, all that will change. Using the power within you I will usher in an era of peace. Only then will your deaths not be in vain."

"Please," Naruto rasped, his breathing growing more irregular, "Even if it's just one life. Spare hers. I never realized it until now but... I think somehow I always knew... from the way she made me feel..." He coughed out a spurt of blood. "It wasn't like with Sakura... always bullying me around... I think now I know... it was just the attention I wanted... but with Hinata..." He seized up in a coughing fit, but went on relentlessly, refusing to let something as trivial as impending death prevent him from delivering one final message. "With Hinata... I always felt... at peace... like it was somehow... right."

Hinata knew she was crying.

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Somehow after all this time... but to hear such a thing now... why did the world have to be so cruel?

"Please," Pain was beginning to sound annoyed at the whole business, "Don't tell me you'd be so cliché as to-"

"I think..." Naruto cut him off harshly, suffering another bout of hacking coughs for his trouble. "I think... I've known now... all along..." For one heart-stopping moment his blue eyes met her lavender ones and even if he hadn't been about to say it, somehow she knew. "Hinata... it's you... it was... always... you..." His eyes seemed to glaze over, but somehow he recovered himself. "I... loved... love... you... _Hinata_..."

Pain just shook his head, a look of pity in his lifeless eyes. "You see what love brings? You see why the cycle will never end?" He seemed to be almost talking to himself. "Well now, can't have you dying on me." He leaned over and a glow of blue chakra enveloped Naruto for a moment. "There now that's better."

Naruto, seeming to have gained a measure of relief from Pain's administration, only glared.

"So you will keep me alive... and let her die?" His voice seemed to have regained some strength as well.

"Very well," Pain replied, sounding exasperated, "If she means that much to you, I will spare you her suffering. Consider it your last request."

Another set of spikes appeared at each hand.

"This way, it will be over quickly for her, I promise you that."

As he raised the sinister weapons to deliver the final blow, Naruto cried out in despair.

Such was the agony of his cry that Pain faltered for a single moment. In that moment his aim was skewed.

"Great," He said, as if scolding a belligerent child, "Now look at what you've done. Now she will have to bleed out slowly... painfully. I guess that's what you get for not accepting your fate. Oh well. Time for us to get going. Don't worry. I'm pretty sure she can die all by herself. In fact, I guarantee it."

Naruto stared at Hinata in disbelief. There she was, the suddenly discovered love of his life and she was dying right before his eyes.

"Please..." He moaned. "Help her."

Pain just ignored him.

"Please... help her... somebody... please god help her..." He railed to the heavens.

Pain wore a look of amusement.

"No god, or anything of the sort is listening. Now if you will just shut up-"

But Naruto wasn't listening.

"Please! Please! Somebody! Anybody!" His voice burned with renewed purpose. "She needs a doctor! Please somebody get her a doctor!" The words reverberated off the cratered walls of Konoha. "Doctor!" He cried, his voice reaching a fever pitch. "Please, somebody, a doctor!"

Pain looked like he'd finally had enough this time. "Enough of this, I will end her myself-"

Naruto's voice seemed to shatter the heavens with the force of his will. His irrational wish to save his love embodied in two syllables of a single word:

"DOCTOR! DOCTOR!"

Pain positioned himself to strike the final blow. This time, he aimed for Hinata's heart.

"_DOOOOCTOOOOR_!"

As Pain cocked his arm back the end seemed inevitable. Naruto watched in horror as the rod began to descend towards Hinata's heart.

"**_DOCTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR_**-"

Naruto's cry was cut off by a blinding glow of light and a rush of wind.

He stared at the rod in utter disbelief. Somehow it had stopped less than an inch before piercing Hinata's chest. His sense of wonder only increased when he saw a hand holding back Pain's arm. A hand he recognized... but that was impossible... Kakashi was dead! So how in the world was he here...?

"Did somebody call for a _doctor_?"

"K-Kakashi-s-sensei?! Is it really you?!"

Kakashi smiled knowingly at his pupil. "All that and more, Naruto. All that and more."

Pain leaped back, assessing the new threat.

"You," He said, voice filled with some foreign emotion... fear. "You're not Hatake Kakashi... what... what are you?"

"Oh, so sorry. How rude of me not to introduce myself!" He pulled down his mask, grinning from ear to ear.

"K-kakashi-sensei! Your mask!"

Kakashi ignored his student, turning to face the threat of Pain.

"Hello there. I'm The Doctor."

"Doctor?" Pain's unique senses told him this wasn't Hatake Kakashi... that he was somehow more.

But that still didn't answer the question.

"Doctor..." He rolled the word around in his mouth. "_Doctor Who_?"

Kakashi produced a gold fob watch seemingly out of nowhere. In his other hand he held a curious little metal cylinder.

"_Exactly_." He smiled amiably. "Now then down to business..."

Before he could finish his sentence Pain set upon him.

Naruto was sure his sensei would be killed, but somehow Pain was stopped, immobile, only inches from the white-haired jonin.

"You know the problem with using an interspace sub-ether sonic energy transmission assembly? Well, the trouble is they are highly unreliable, even on the best of days... and really to use such a vulnerable mode of communication given the stakes, if you'll forgive the pun, well, is rather_ shabby_. I mean, you wouldn't try to cross the Atlantic in a rowboat now would you? Oh, sorry, wrong dimension... anyway the point is, never use an interspace sub-ether _sonic_ energy transmission assembly... when your opponent has a _sonic _screwdriver!"

Pain suddenly fell to the ground, like a puppet with his strings cut.

"There, now." Kakashi turned back to Naruto. "Wasn't that just _fantastic?_ Oh, I do love it when I get to make a _brilliant_ entrance like this."

"Kakashi-sensei... what exactly did you do?"

"_Weeeellll_," He preened. "It wasn't all that complicated _really_. Nothing when compared to the Daleks or the Weeping Angels... that's a story for another time."

"Who..." Naruto suddenly realized the man before him was _not_ his sensei. "Who _are_ you?"

The white haired man smiled.

"No need to worry. I'm The Doctor. I'm here to help."

"Can you help her?" Naruto pleaded, gesturing weakly to Hinata, who was barely breathing.

"Oh, right, right of course. Now let's see... sub-ether sonic energy transmission assembly..." He studied the... sonic screwdriver... yes that was what he had called it. "Hooked up to a... no... _no!_ I can't believe it... I just_ caaaan't_ believe it! Oh, my that is _too_ easy. _Faaar _too easy."

"What's too easy?" Naruto insisted, not understanding how the destruction of the entire village and his love bleeding out before him could be so easy to fix.

"Well it's quite _simple_ really. The assembly is hooked up to the avatar, which wields the six powers of creation... gravity, creation, destruction... etc etc... Including, but not limited to the power of _life itself!_ For the second time I get to dance, Naruto! Do you know what that means, when _The Doctor Dances?_"

"Doctor... what is it you're trying to say?"

"Well with just a little bit of tinkering, I can invert the wave frequency and... there we are- plug into the network _aaaaannnnd_." The screwdriver made a sort of squealing sound and suddenly a massive energy wave could be seen approaching Konoha. It looked like the flames of heaven unleashed.

"Doctor?" Naruto asked nervously. "Doctor what _is_ that?!"

"That my friend..._ IS LIFE_! Coming _right_ attcha'! _Faaaaaantastic!_"

* * *

Everything had been white. That was the first thing they all agreed on, looking back on that day. The day a mysterious stranger had appeared and in a moment somehow reversed all the destruction Pain had wrought, leaving Konoha standing as it once was, pristine, all of its peoples revived.

A movement was started that day, a movement towards a higher cause.

Words whispered on the wind carried a message of peace, and less than a year later a great alliance of the Five Shinobi Nations was realized. Rumors spread of a warrior, a man of righteous power who appeared to protect the weak, when all else seemed lost.

And so the world would go on in peace... a silent protector there to maintain the balance…

Only two people knew his name: the Sixth Hokage and his wife. A secret they would pass on to their many children, and their children's children. The name of a champion who somehow would appear when the need was most dire... the odds insurmountable… the danger… _fantastic_!

* * *

_200 years later..._

Madara and Orochimaru finally had it all figured out. Tonight was the night Konoha finally paid for its crimes. Tonight was the night they finally wiped that wretched village off the face of the earth. And Konoha was just the beginning. Together they would have dominion over all the world. There was no one to stop them... they had planned too carefully, too quietly.

As the moon rose over Konoha only a single shinobi managed to spot them.

Unfortunately for them, this particular shinobi was Uzumaki Minato... keeper of a certain secret.

"Madara... what iss that?" Orochimaru hissed.

A strange sound pierced the night: something utterly indescribable.

"Nothing." His dark haired partner replied shortly. "Probably just the wind."

His hands began forming complex seals. After several minutes he paused.

"Now, for your part. Just imagine it. In one fell swoop all of Konoha gone! No counter! No shinobi to stop us! A perfect jutsu of penultimate destruction! Finally our revenge is complete! Nobody can stop us now!"

"_Weeeelllll,_ I wouldn't exactly say _nobody_." A voice called out mockingly. "_I'm_ here after all, _aren't_ I?"

A figure in an odd getup... some kind of suite or something... and was that a _bowtie_? He walked along the top of the wall, waving in friendly acknowledgement. His spikey white hair flowed in a wind that wasn't there.

"Hello there. I'm The Doctor."

"Doctor?" Orochimaru and Madara asked simultaneously. "Doctor Who?"

A little metal cylinder with a flashing light at the end appeared in the Doctor's hand.

He smiled.

"_Exactly!"_

* * *

_**[Fin]**_

* * *

A/N: So what exactly inspired this? I don't know, it just seemed like fun. Started off as an OMAKE for ANBU, but then I figured, what the heck, it deserves its own title. This _was_ an unofficial chapter of ANBU that was to take place between parts II and III, as well as be its own one-shot. Now though, it's going to be worked into the plot of ANBU Part III. How the fuck am I going to do this? Just look at my pen name. I am a genius, after all. Humble as well (hear the sarcasm.) Anyway, I think this idea is just too fun _not_ to share with all my readers. Doctor Who da man?! Lolz, in this case more like Doctor Hue…huehuehue.

Oh, after giving it a little thought, I was wondering if anyone knows of a website I might submit this in some category or another as a one-shot. I feel with a little polishing it could win... well something. If anyone has any information about this process please pm me.

Oh... and btdubs... bowties are _cool!_

_G.A.M.M._: "Right Doctor?"

_Doctor Kakashi_: "Breaking the fourth wall to talk with an imaginary crossover Doctor character? _FANTASTIC!"_


End file.
